This invention relates to a drive device for use in an electric clock to drive the clock hands intermittently or stepwise at intervals of unit time.
In conventional electric clocks, it is a common practice to use a stepmotor or electromagnetic solenoid as a drive device to operate, for example, the second hand stepwise. However, stepmotors are generally complicated in structure and many of them use special input signals such as a two-phase signal. On the other hand, although the electromagnetic solenoids require only a simple input signal, they have a large power consumption and are not preferred for use in battery-operated electric clocks.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a drive device for an electric clock which is free from the disadvantages involved in the conventional drive devices, has a simple construction and can drive the clock hand stepwise with a reduced power consumption and by means of a simple input signal.
As is stated hereinabove, according to this invention, several rotors are driven stepwise in a simple manner by arranging the rotors at suitable positions and applying a next signal not during the driving period of the rotors but after the rotors having rotated through preselected angles and stopped. In this way a stepwise drive can be achieved at an inexpensive cost and with a reduced power consumption compared with the conventional methods.